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2016 Pacific hurricane season (Bob/Hype)
The 2016 Pacific hurricane season was the least active Pacific hurricane season on record - featuring a record-low 7 named storms, 2 hurricanes, and 0 major hurricanes. The season opened fairly active with three depressions in June and two named storms in July, but a rapidly developing La Nina caused the season to end very early. The final storm, Tropical Storm Frank, dissipated on October 3. It was the first Pacific season with no major hurricanes since 2003. An unusual occurrence for the season is the very low amount of hurricanes that formed, and that the strongest storm of the season - Pali - formed in January. Pali was operationally classified as a category 2, but was downgraded to a category 1 in post-analysis. Timeline ImageSize = width:700 height:250 PlotArea = top:10 bottom:80 right:20 left:20 Legend = columns:3 left:30 top:58 columnwidth:190 AlignBars = early DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/01/2016 till:01/01/2017 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMinor = grid:black unit:month increment:1 start:01/01/2016 Colors = id:canvas value:gray(0.88) id:GP value:red id:TD value:rgb(0.38,0.73,1) legend:Tropical_Depression_=_<39_mph id:TS value:rgb(0,0.98,0.96) legend:Tropical_Storm_=_39-73_mph id:C1 value:rgb(1,1,0.80) legend:Category_1_=_74-95_mph id:C2 value:rgb(1,0.91,0.46) legend:Category_2_=_96-110_mph id:C3 value:rgb(1,0.76,0.25) legend:Category_3_=_111-129_mph id:C4 value:rgb(1,0.56,0.13) legend:Category_4_=_130-156_mph id:C5 value:rgb(1,0.38,0.38) legend:Category_5_≥_157_mph Backgroundcolors = canvas:canvas BarData = barset:Hurricane bar:Month PlotData= barset:Hurricane width:11 align:left fontsize:S shift:(4,-4) anchor:till from:01/01/2016 till:02/01/2016 color:TD text:Nine-C (TD) from:07/01/2016 till:14/01/2016 color:C1 text:Pali (C1) from:03/06/2016 till:04/06/2016 color:TD text:One-E (TD) from:14/06/2016 till:16/06/2016 color:TD text:Two-E (TD) from:29/06/2016 till:04/07/2016 color:TD text:Three-E (TD) from:08/07/2016 till:11/07/2016 color:TS text:Agatha (TS) from:23/07/2016 till:24/07/2016 color:TD barset:break barset:skip barset:skip barset:skip barset:skip barset:skip barset:skip from:28/07/2016 till:31/07/2016 color:TS text:Blas (TS) barset:break from:07/08/2016 till:07/08/2016 color:TS text:Celia (TS) from:13/08/2016 till:16/08/2016 color:TD text:Two-C (TD) from:19/08/2016 till:21/08/2016 color:TD text:Seven-E (TD) from:31/08/2016 till:04/09/2016 color:TS text:Darby (TS) from:08/09/2016 till:08/09/2016 color:TD text:Ten-E (TD) from:23/09/2016 till:29/09/2016 color:C1 text:Estelle (C1) from:30/09/2016 till:03/10/2016 color:TS text:Frank (TS) bar:Month width:5 align:center fontsize:S shift:(0,-20) anchor:middle color:canvas from:01/01/2016 till:01/02/2016 text:January from:01/02/2016 till:01/03/2016 text:February from:01/03/2016 till:01/04/2016 text:March from:01/04/2016 till:01/05/2016 text:April from:01/05/2016 till:01/06/2016 text:May from:01/06/2016 till:01/07/2016 text:June from:01/07/2016 till:01/08/2016 text:July from:01/08/2016 till:01/09/2016 text:August from:01/09/2016 till:01/10/2016 text:September from:01/10/2016 till:01/11/2016 text:October from:01/11/2016 till:01/12/2016 text:November from:01/12/2016 till:01/01/2017 text:December TextData = pos:(400,30) text:"(From the" pos:(447,30) text:"Saffir–Simpson hurricane wind scale)" Storms Hurricane Pali Pali was a very unusual category 1 (originally category 2) Central Pacific hurricane that formed in January. In post-analysis, its duration period was shortened by 18 hours and it was downgraded to a category 1 hurricane. Tropical Depression One-E On June 3, a tropical wave developed into Tropical Depression One-E while located just west of Mexico. Moving northwestward away from land, One-E dissipated the next day due to wind shear. Tropical Depression Two-E On June 14, another tropical wave developed into Tropical Depression Two-E in a similar place to Tropical Depression One-E. Similarly, Two-E fell victim to wind shear, dissipating two days later. Tropical Depression Three-E On June 29, a tropical depression developed near Baja. It nearly reached tropical storm strength several times over 4 days, but remained a tropical depression. It dissipated on July 4 due to wind shear and cool sea-surface temperatures. Tropical Storm Agatha On July 7, another tropical wave formed in the East-Central Pacific. On July 8, just before it crossed into the Central Pacific basin, it became Tropical Storm Agatha - the first EPac named storm of the season, after the three tropical depressions. While Agatha was initially expected to peak as a category 1 hurricane, wind shear caused the system's circulation to be torn apart, and it failed to strengthen beyond 50 mph. Agatha dissipated on July 11 when it began to turn northeast into unusually cold waters due to La Nina. Subtropical Storm Blas On July 22, the NHC began monitoring another tropical move moving off the coast of Mexico. The system briefly became Tropical Depression Four-E on July 23 before degenerating in a remnant low due to extremely strong wind shear and very dry air. The NHC expected Four-E to re-develop in a few days. Four days later, Four-E regenerated as a subtropical depression. Briefly on July 28, Four-E acquired 40 mph winds, being named "Blas", while still subtropical. The weak subtropical depression made an unusual landfall in Southern California on July 31. Blas caused all 11 of the season's deaths as well as $400 million in damage. Tropical Storm Celia On August 3, another tropical wave formed in the East-Central Pacific, and developed into Tropical Depression Five-E four days later on August 7. Six hours later, it was briefly upgraded into Tropical Storm Celia. However, Celia degenerated into a remnant low that same day. Celia was an unusual storm that formed and dissipated on the same day. Tropical Depression Two-C On August 13, a tropical depression developed east of Hawaii, becoming Tropical Depression Two-C. Two-C was initially expected to develop into a category 2 hurricane and become one of the strongest hurricanes in Hawaii history. However, wind shear caused Two-C's circulation to become very weak, dissipating without reaching Tropical Storm strength on August 16. Tropical Depression Seven-E On August 19, a tropical wave developed into a tropical depression located southwest of Baja California. While Seven-E was initially expected to intensify into a strong tropical storm and make landfall in Baja California, it instead took a westward path and dissipated due to very strong wind shear and cool waters on August 21. Tropical Storm Darby On August 31, another tropical depression developed about 200 miles west of the Mexico coast. Moving northwest into a slightly favorable environment, it strengthened into Tropical Storm Darby the next day. On September 2, Darby became one of the season's strongest storms with 60 mph winds and a pressure of 994 mbar. Record-cold water temperatures caused Darby to become extratropical on September 4. Tropical Depression Ten-E On September 8, a tropical depression briefly formed in the western part of the Eastern Pacific basin. Just six hours later, it dissipated - even shorter lived than Celia earlier in the season. Ten-E is one of the weakest tropical cyclones on record, with maximum sustained winds only 25 mph and an extremely high pressure of 1017 mbar - usually found in high-pressure systems. Hurricane Estelle On September 21, another tropical wave formed west of Mexico. However, wind shear had relaxed substantially, and development conditions were more favorable. On September 23, it organized itself into Tropical Storm Estelle. At this time, forecasts usually predicted Estelle to reach category 3 or 4 hurricane status - including the NHC, which forecast a peak intensity of 140 mph, noting that category 5 status "wasn't out of the question". However, the extremely cold waters due to the La Nina caused the system to break apart, with the convection displaced from the center of the storm. Estelle briefly acquired hurricane intensity on September 26, but due to the cold waters, Estelle rapidly weakened and dissipated into a remnant low on September 29. Tropical Storm Frank On September 30, another tropical depression developed about 800 miles west of Mexico. Moving around in the Pacific for several days, it acquired the name Frank the next day. Frank peaked with 65 mph winds and was at one point expected to become a hurricane. However, the record-cold water temperatures and high wind shear, which had weakened and dissipated several storms earlier in the season, caused Frank to rapidly weaken into a tropical depression by October 3. Late that evening, Frank dissipated, ending the unusually inactive 2016 Pacific hurricane season. Season Effects Category:Inactive hurricane seasons Category:Pacific hurricane seasons